President Donald Trump launched a transatlantic slap at British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that she's in her current mess because she ignored his advice about how to negotiate the UK's exit from the European Union.

May has agreed to a vote Thursday on whether to seek a delay in the final geopolitical divorce, which is scheduled for March 29. Parliament has already rekected her proposed separation deal – twice.

She is proposing a delay until June 30, but only if Parliament approves her deal. Her warning to previously enthusiastic Brexit supporters who disagree with her approach is that the only alternative to a withdrawal agreement is a lengthy extension that might doom Brexit by attrition in the long run.

'I'm surprised at how badly it has all gone from the standpoint of the negotiation,' Trump said, sitting in the Oval Office alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. 'But I gave the prime minister my ideas on how to negotiate it. And I think you would have been successful.'

'She didn't listen to that and that's fine, I mean, if she's got to do what she's got to do,' Trump sniffed. 'But I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart right now.'

President Donald Trump intervened in Brexit politics on Thursday, telling reporters alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that British PM Theresa May ignored his advice about how to negotiate Britain's divorce from the Eureopean Union

May has lost two votes already on the terms she wanted for the Brexit separation, and Parliament is now poised to delay the final date past the current March 29 deadline

The president had fired off a hopeful tweet earlier in the morning, sending the message that the U.S. stood ready to negotiate standalone, bilateral trade deals with the United Kingdom after its divorce from Europe is complete.

'My Administration looks forward to negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. The potential is unlimited!' he wrote.

Faced with equally large Irish and American press contingents on Thursday, Trump initially told a reporter to save his breath. 'I'm not going to, on Brexit,' he said at first.

But the president couldn't help himself, intervening moments later in the Brexit process that is now threatening to come to a standstill.

'It's a very complex thing right now,' he said. 'It's tearing a country apart. It's actually tearing a lot of countries apart. And it's a shame it has to be that way, but I think we will stay right in our lane.'

Trump said Thursday that he had given thhis UK counterpart advice, but she ignored him

British Parliament has spent most of the past week engulfed by chaos related to the terms of the Brexit divorce, after a series of votes left May with egg on her face and the UK with an uncertain economic future.

He added that it was 'sad to see what is happening there' and then criticized Brussels.

'The EU has been very tough to deal with,' Trump said, 'and frankly it's been very one-sided for many years, so we are changing that around.'

Asked if he thought Parliament should seek to extend its Brexit deadline, Trump said that 'I think they are probably going to have to do something, because right now they are in the midst of a very short period of time, at the end of the month, and they are not going to be able to do that.'

British Parliament has spent most of the past week engulfed by chaos and plotting a path foward after a series of votes left May with egg on her face and the UK with an uncertain economic future.

'We can do a very big trade deal with the UK,' Trump said Thursday, while also allowing that the U.S. is 're-negotiating our trade deal with European groups and literally individual nations.'

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

Trump said Thursday, as he has in the past, that he predicted the 2016 Brexit vote would succeed during a visit to his Scottish gold course at Turnberry on the day before the referendum was held.

'I predicted it was going to happen and I was right. And people laughed when I predicted it, and they won by about two points,' he said, adding that 'people were surprised I made the prediction, because President Obama made the opposite prediction, and I was right.'

That's not accurate. Trump did advocate for a Brexit 'leave' vote a day ahead of time, but he never predicted it would happen. He made his recommendation in the United States; by the time he got to Scotland the vote was over.

'It’s a mess,' he told a Fox News Channel interviewer at the time.' When you look at what’s happened with the, as an example, the migration. When you look at the things that are going on over there, my inclination would be to go it alone and go back to where you came from, because that’s just my feeling.'

'Now, with that being said, I want people to do what they want to do. But somebody asked me, "what would you do?" I said I would probably vote to get out.'

In the same interview, Trump said: 'I don't think anybody should listen to me because I haven't really focused on it very much.'

Trump enthusiastically voiced his backing for a UK-U.S. trade deal on Thursday morning, looking ahead to a time when Brexit is finalized

Trump claimed Thursday, as he has before, that he had predicted Brexit would be approved as he spoke at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland; Trump recommended a 'leave' vote but didn't predict the result, and did so in the U.S. a day earlier

On Thursday he suggested that voices calling for a do-over in the face of the week's difficulty should be ignored.

'I don't think another vote would be possible because it would be very unfair to the people that won, to say, "What do you mean? You're going to take another vote?" So that would be tough,' he said.

'I thought it would happen, it did happen, and both sides are very, very – you know, they're cemented in. It's a tough situation. It's a shame. Frankly it's a shame. There was no reason for that to happen. They could have had the vote and it should have gone smoothly. Unfortunately, it didn't. Very complicated issue.'

U.S. Ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson accused the European Union this month of planting false concerns about U.S. farming practices, including chlorine-washed chicken.

The Trump administration's post-Brexit trade demands had sparked fears that the UK could be flooded with low-quality food imports.

The U.S. wants 'comprehensive market access' for agricultural products through the reduction or removal of tariffs and the elimination of 'unwarranted barriers' to food and drink imports.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's office released its negotiating blueprint, an encouraging move that gave the British Department for International Trade a welcome sign that Washington was eager to jump-start talks when Brexit is in the rear-view mirror.

UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox's office said Britain would insist on maintaining 'high standards for businesses, workers and consumers' in any deal.

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

Trump slaps at UK Prime Minister Theresa May for ignoring his advice about how to negotiate Brexit